Introduction
Every company engages in marketing which entails presenting the right products to the customers at relevant prices and at the right time. Thabit & Raewf (2018) notes that the failure to integrate the right strategies can result in many mistakes that could result in failures. However, the marketing mix and the 4Ps are ideal tools that can help avoid such mistakes. By focusing on the 4 Ps, product, price, place, and promotion, marketers streamline all the processes necessary to bring the product or service to the market. Therefore, a marketing mix analysis of AF drinks would help the company understand its marketing concepts, identify gaps and take necessary measures to ensure success. Alcohol-Free (AF) is a New Zealand-based company that engages in the sale of alcohol-free cocktails. Af Drinks (2023) notes that the cocktails are 100% botanical heat extracts that mimic the pleasant warmth of drinking alcohol but without drinking the alcohol. This report presents a marketing mix analysis of AF Drinks. This focuses on the product, pricing, and distribution strategies of the company as well as ethical considerations it may face relative to the marketing mix. Based on the analysis, the report offers ideal recommendations for AF Drinks.
Discussion (Marketing Mix analysis of AF Drinks)
Product strategies
Thabit & Raewf (2018) define products as the goods or services that a company offers its customers. The product offerings of AF Drinks entail 42 low calories, low-sugar, and gluten-free drinks that are 100% free of alcohol. The alcohol-free drinks are grouped in a product mix of eight AF offerings which are gins, spritz, darks, mixed packs, beer, wine, spirits, and garn. To help people shift from taking alcoholic drinks, Af Drinks (2023) notes that AF Drinks adds afterglow, an ingredient that brings a pleasant warmth when seeping wine or a cocktail. This makes the drinks have similar pleasantness to that found in alcoholic drinks but rather without the alcohol. The core product of AF Drinks is to make it easier for sober curious explore a relationship with alcohol. The users experience delicious, sophisticated, and adult options when not drinking alcohol. Packaging of the drinks is in glass bottles and beverage cans. The two packages are preferable since they are highly recyclable. The bottles have clear and distinctive names that make them easily identifiable for customers. The labelling identifies the quantity of the non-alcoholic drinks, the name and ingredients. For example, a Heap’s Normal beer can label showcases 355ml with less than 0.5% ABV, delicious, refreshing, and non-alcoholic beer (Af Drinks, 2023).
The brand attributes of AF Drinks showcase that the company employs a family branding policy. All the products have the brand name Curious AF placed in large font that is easily identifiable. For example, several bottles, such as Tokyo Highball, Sparkling Rose, Cuba Libre, and Pink Grapefruit G&T, are all preceded by the “Curious AF” brand name. With similar names across all products, it is easy for the company to promote all the products since the name covers all the ranges. More so, the key brand attributes of AF Drinks are its brand persona. The drinks help non-alcoholic consumers have a relationship with alcohol by taking non-alcoholic drinks that have the feature of alcoholic drinks (Johnson, 2023). Regarding the initials AF, the company seeks to ensure that its customers have a taste of alcohol-free cocktails that have an afterglow that tastes like an alcoholic drink equivalent.
Pricing strategies
Thabit & Raewf (2018) notes that price denotes the amount of money that a customer pays in exchange for a product. AF Drinks relies on psychological pricing techniques. This is through multiple unit pricing, where it packages several identical drinks together and sells them at a single price. As the bundle size increases, AF lowers the price of the bundle. For example, the AF Drinks Pink Grapefruit G&T 250ml can is sold in three different multiple units. 12 250ml bottles retail at $45, 24 cans at $89, and 24, 300ml bottles are sold at $109 (Curious AF, 2023). This pricing strategy is preferable, especially for the beverage industry, where many cans are offered in bulk orders. Based on the beverage industry in which AF Drinks serves, it seeks to offer its target customers an alcohol-like experience irrespective of taking alcohol-free drinks. Consumers prefer to purchase such drinks in bundles. Based on the lowering prices of the bundles as they increase, AF Drinks seeks to promote the purchase of many products. This makes AF Drinks an affordable company that seeks to protect the people by offering them non-alcoholic drinks that do not adversely impact the productivity, performance, and well-being of the users (Johnson, 2023). Therefore, the bundled pricing meets all the characteristics of alcohol pricing strategies and thus gives sober people a similar experience.
Distribution strategies
Also denoted as place, the distribution strategies of a company encompass all the activities undertaken to ensure that the product is availed to the consumers (Thabit & Raewf, 2018). As part of its distribution strategies, AF Drinks uses direct and indirect channels. For its direct marketing, the company sells in its online website and at its shop, The Curious AF Bottle Shop, located in Ponsonby, Auckland. The online website only sells AF Drinks, while the physical store has added other brands such as Vandestreek IPA, Noughty Sparkling Rose, Bella Hadid’s Kin Euphorics, and aperitif Ghia (Patrick, 2022). The company indirectly sells its drinks through retailers across New Zealand. These include PAK’n’SAVE, New World, and Countdown. AF Drinks also engages in intensive distribution. The company seeks to increase its market share and therefore works with several intermediaries in addition to its online and physical stores. The distribution strategies strongly match the target market of AF Drinks. Since customers seek non-alcoholic drinks that substitute for alcoholic drinks, they would need to access them quickly. Therefore, relying on several channels ensures increased availability and thus meets the needs of the customers. More so, these distribution strategies support the company’s product positioning. As Patrick (2022) noted, the company positions its products as alcohol-free cocktails that taste as good as their alcohol equivalents.
Ethical considerations
In marketing, ethics are put in place to ensure that businesses do the right thing. Tanveer et al. (2021) assert that ethics are culturally based moral codes that govern how society acts. Businesses are governed by ethics that ensure that they uphold integrity. The product strategies of AF Drinks could raise ethical considerations. With the brand having drinks with almost similar characteristics to alcoholic drinks, Miller et al. (2022) note that consumers may believe that it seeks to create awareness of alcoholic drinks among the youth. This means that it could be grooming young people to be future alcoholics. However, AF Drinks should ensure that it sells its products after checking customer IDs. In addition, restrictions on shelve placement in supermarkets would be ideal. Miller et al. (2022) note that zero-alcohol brands need to be regulated like alcoholic brands. With respect to this, AF Drinks needs to consider the Prima Facie Six Duties Framework by Ross (1930). According to Svegliato, Nashed & Zilberstein (2021), the last duty holds that firms have a duty of non-maleficence. It should ensure that its products do not cause harm to the consumers. For example, the drinks should have adequate information prohibiting minors from using the products.
Conclusion
In conclusion, firms should seek the right marketing tools to analyse their marketing strategies. This ensures that they present the right products to the customers using the right channels and charging the right costs. The marketing mix tool is ideal for accomplishing this as it assists marketers in streamlining all the processes necessary to bring the product or service to the market. The marketing mix analysis of AF Drinks reveals that the company produces zero-alcohol drinks that have the taste of real alcohol. These drinks are sold at relatively cheap prices that rely on the multi-unit pricing strategy. The company also relies on direct and indirect distribution strategies to avail the products to its target customers. Irrespective of the seamless processes, AF Drinks may face ethical concerns. Customers may feel that the company seeks to groom young people to become future drinkers. However, the company can seek strategies that help protect the underage.
Recommendations
- AF Drinks needs to ensure that it only seeks its drinks to customers who have IDs to ensure that young people do not access them. More so, it should liaise with its distributors to regulate the sale of the drinks to minors. This will ensure that the minors are not exposed to alcohol-like drinks and thus have less likelihood of becoming alcoholics in the future.
- AF Drinks needs to consider the Prima Facie Six Duties Framework by Ross (1930). This will help the company ensure that its products limit the age limit of drinkers. As a result, it will safeguard young people from the alluring of alcohol and thus protect the future generation.
References
Af Drinks. (2023). Alcohol-Free Cocktails With Afterglow. Curious AF. https://af-drinks.com/
Curious AF. (2023). All. Curious AF. https://af-drinks.com/collections/all-products/
Johnson, T. C. (2023). Free AF is the alcohol-free cocktail brand to get you glowing. Dieline. https://thedieline.com/blog/2023/4/10/free-af-is-the-alcohol-free-cocktail-brand-to-get-you-glowing/
Miller, M., Pettigrew, S., & Wright, C. J. (2022). Zero‐alcohol beverages: Harm-minimisation tool or gateway drink?. Drug and Alcohol Review, 41(3), 546-549. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/dar.13359/
Patrick, T. (2022, December 1). Sober curious? NZ’s first alcohol-free bottle shop has opened in Ponsonby. Denizen. https://www.thedenizen.co.nz/gastronomy/introducing-the-curious-af-bottle-shop-by-af-drinks/
Svegliato, J., Nashed, S. B., & Zilberstein, S. (2021, May). Ethically compliant sequential decision-making. In Proceedings of the AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence (Vol. 35, No. 13, pp. 11657-11665). file:///C:/Users/Administrator/Downloads/17386-Article%20Text-20880-1-2-20210518.pdf/
Tanveer, M., Ahmad, A. R., Mahmood, H., & Haq, I. U. (2021). Role of ethical marketing in driving consumer brand relationships and brand loyalty: A sustainable marketing approach. Sustainability, 13(12), 6839. file:///C:/Users/Administrator/Downloads/sustainability-13-06839.pdf/
Thabit, T., & Raewf, M. (2018). The evaluation of marketing mix elements: A case study. International Journal of Social Sciences & Educational Studies, 4(4). https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Thabit-Thabit/publication/324923406_The_Evaluation_of_Marketing_Mix_Elements_A_Case_Study/links/5aeb827a458515f59981df6e/The-Evaluation-of-Marketing-Mix-Elements-A-Case-Study.pdf/
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